CPPAMO TOWN HALL AT CAPACOA ANNUAL MEETING NOVEMBER 7, 2010 Charles C.

Smith

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 2. The Town Hall 3. Follow-up and CPPAMOs Work 4. Appendices a. CAPACOA Program b. G. Elliot Clarke Keynote c. Shahin Sayadi Workshop Presentation d. Sandra Laronde Workshop Notes 3 4 6 8 9 22 27 31

1. Introduction: In 2010, CPPAMO has held three Town Halls to discuss pluralism in performing arts and to present some of the most dynamic and cutting edge Aborignal and ethno-racial performing artists and arts companies. Beginning in January, 2010 at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, then working with Magnetic North in Kitchener-Waterloo and with CAPACOA at its annual meeting, CPPAMOs Town Halls have provided platforms to engage Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists with artists from other communities and with presenters across Ontario and Canada. The Town Halls have focused on presenting issues related to what is on stages across Ontario and Canada and to engage performers and presenters in information-sharing and creative brain-storming on what is being done and/or needs to be done to create a sense of home for performances and artists from culturally diverse communities, i.e., ethno-racial and Aboriginal artists and arts organizations. In this regard, the Town Halls have discussed several questions, including: What needs to be done to increase the number of performances by ethno-racial and Aboriginal artists in performing arts venues across Ontario? How do we build the curatorial capacities of performing arts venues so that they are more aware of the cultural values of performers from culturally diverse communities? What do culturally diverse performing artists and arts organizations need to do to build relationships with performing arts venues across Ontario? How can performing arts venues work with culturally diverse artists to build audiences within ethno-racial and Aboriginal communities? What concrete steps need to be taken by culturally diverse performing artists and performance venues to build strong relationships? At almost all of these events, Magnetic North being the exception, CPPAMO featured performances by artists working in Aboriginal and ethno-racial creation-based performing arts organizations. The performances were followed by facilitated discussion on the relevance of these performances to the increasing Aboriginal and ethno-racial diversity of Ontario and Canada and their significance to cultural performances organized by performing arts venues and their relationship to audience development. In collaboration with CAPACOA, on Sunday, November 7, 2010 CPPAMO presented a program on pluralism at the National Arts Centre. With a keynote address delivered by Governor-General Award-winning poet George Elliot Clarke and performances by the Collective of Black Artists, Ipsita Nova Dance and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, the program gave evidence to the invaluable work of artists from diverse backgrounds. There were also two workshops addressing the relationship between audience development and programming. These workshops had excellent resource persons: Shahin Sayadi, Artistic Director of Onelight Theatre (Halifax), Sandra Laronde Artistic Director of Red Sky Performance (Toronto) and Jeanne Holmes of Dancemakers (Toronto). CPPAMO is a movement of Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists working with presenters to empower the performing arts communities of Ontario. CPPAMO is supported by Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists who are involved in theatre, music, dance and literary arts and include representatives of Sampradaya Dance, Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Little Pear Garden Theatre Collective, Centre for Indigenous Theatre, Sparrow in the Room, b-current, why not theatre,

urban arts and backforward collective, Culture Days, Canada Council Stand Firm members, Menaka Thakker Dance, Obsidian Theatre, the Collective of Black Artists, CanAsian Dance, Teya Peya Productions, and others. CPPAMO works with Community Cultural Impresarios (CCI) and its members to build their capacities, cultural competencies and understanding of pluralism in performing arts so that CCI and its members engage performers from these communities and, thereby, enable audiences across Ontario to access artistic expressions from diverse communities on a regular basis. For this Town Hall, CPPAMO worked closely with CAPACOA and consulted with the Canada Dance Festival and the Canada Dance Association to develop the performing component. 2. CAPACOA Town Hall:

The CAPACOA Town Hall was an exciting event featuring a keynote address delivered by George Elliot Clarke and performances by the Collective of Black Artists, Ipsita Nova Dance and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, the program gave evidence to the invaluable work of artists from diverse backgrounds. There were also two workshops focusing on issues related to programming and audience development. These sessions had resource support provided by Shahid Sayadi, One Light Theatre (Halifax), Jeanne Holmes (CanDance Network and Dancemakers, Toronto) and Sandra Laronde (Redy Sky Performance, Toronto). Following welcoming remarks by Warren Garrett, Executive Director of Community Cultural Impresarios, and then greetings by charles c. smith, CPPAMO Project Lead, COBA performed a compelling duo to open the performances. Entitled Djembefola, and choreographed by BaKari Segun Lindsay, with performers BaKari Segun Lindsay, Ndere Ade Nimon HeadleyLindsay and music by Baba Toure and Ndere Ade Nimon Headley-Lindsay. As COBA states, The Djembe is a Malinke instrument. It is presently one of the most popular drums in North America. To be a Djembefola is to embody the essence of this instrument. Not everyone who plays a Djembe is a Djembefola, because it requires love, passion, and spiritual connection. Djembefola awakened the stage for George Elliot Clarks keynote which opened doors to other visions of Canada, particularly African descent and Aboriginal. He examined the legacy of race in performing arts, whether on stage or in communities, and how this plays out in the arts today. With poignant reference to current events, e.g., a Halloween contest win for costumes of a Klan member bringing along in a lynch knot a Black-faced White man and the burning of a cross on the lawn of an inter-racial couple, Clark found moments to interject the salience of the story on race as an integral part of the construction of Canada both in story and fact. Further, based on his own experiences with his operas, Clarke shared stories with what was at times a very intimate understanding of performing arts and the social values they both embed and construct, and how this is generally devoid of the experiences and voices of Aboriginal peoples and peoples of colour while, at the same time, often weighing in against the expression of these voices. In responding to a question from an audience member, Clarke closed his comments acknowledging that there has been some change on the stages across Canada but that there is so much further to go. This striking presentation received a very warm and memorable closing as, after taking a few questions, a number of Clarkes poems were put to song by vocalist Pat Watson accompanied by pianist George Bird.

Nova Bhattacharya, Ipsita Nova, then presented A Calm Abiding. At times epitomizing the enormity of silence and motionlessness, then calculated sculpture, and then again a frenzied pace balanced by diverse musical accompaniment, Novas performance demonstrated quite artfully a hybrid combination of classical bharatanatyam (South Asian classical) and contemporary dance that is clearly in the vanguard of choreographic expression in Canadian dance. This is why Nova has been acclaimed as one of Canadas most captivating dance artists. She has trained with some of bharatanatyams most esteemed teachers including Menaka Thakkar, Kalanidhi Narayan and Kitappa Pillai. Her development in contemporary dance has been informed by her ongoing work with Peggy Baker, Sasha Ivanochko and Louis Laberge-Ct and in butoh by Yumiko Yoshioka and Denise Fujiwara. Described in The Globe & Mail as possessing a style that is "bold and disturbingly direct" Bhattacharya has a compelling and magnetic stage presence, with strong technique and thoughtful characterizations, always eager to explore the scope for innovation within the Bharatanatyam form and seeking to create works that utilize classical vocabulary in a contemporary aesthetic. Her choreography has been characterized as "a contemporary expression of the Bharatanatyam form and more" (Vancouver Sun) and been commissioned by the Canada Dance Festival, Cahoots Theatre Projects, Dusk Dances, Theatre Direct Canada and Toronto Dance Theatre.Bhattacharyas artistry is a reflection of her classical training and present- day aesthetic, her work is formally rigorous and displays an eloquence that goes beyond pure movement. Interspersed between the performances, there were two workshops focusing on the relationship between programming and audience development amongst Aboriginal and ethnoracial groups. One workshop was led by Sandra Laronde of Red Sky Performance and the other had co-panelists Shahin Sayadi, Artistic Director of One Light Theatre in Halifax, and Jeanne Holmes of Dancemakers in Toronto. These speakers examined the things that work for them in connecting with diverse communities and the importance of programming that speaks to these communities, particularly the importance of inclusive representations of their stories and themselves as well as their integral involvement in the creation and control of these stories. Each speaker provided examples based on their experiences across the country in dance and theatre. Sandra Laronde had just come off a whirlwind tour with the Dora Award winning Tono which played to appreciating audiences in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario. She had many insights into the how the vibrancy of her work draws a range of communities as audience and the central position of her Aboriginal heritage within this work and its connection with Indigenous peoples around the world. After a quite honoured time working with dance at Harbourfront, Jeanne Holmes, now of Dancemakers, looked at the importance of being open to artistic expressions that come from diverse artists and putting them on centre stage. To her, this meant having familiarity in the differences in vocabulary of each expression, and its cultural symbols, and the coherence of these symbols in a framework of knowledge, meaning and beauty that comes from elsewhere and must be viewed within that context. The final speaker was Shahin Sayadi whose paper focused on the limited understanding of many theatre personnel, including artistic directors, critics and managers of performance venues, whose values and behaviours as articulated through what is presented on stages remain largely homogenous and, thereby, not open to the works of diverse artists. He challenged the notion that change is evident and spoke to the lack of performance venues run

by Aboriginal artists and artists of colour, and that this absence results in these artists having to understand, negotiate and work with managers of venues who do not have a significant understanding of what these artists are offering to put on stage. The program ended with a performance by Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. The cycle of Life unfolds throughout Kaha:wi as a grandmother dies and a new baby is born. The narrative weaves around the lives of three generations of women and the community in which they thrive. Steeped in traditional Iroquoian based song and dance, the contemporary dance production is powerful and captivating. Kaha:wi touches audiences on an emotional, physical and spiritual level. Kaha:wi is powerful due to the cultural weight it demonstrates by being profoundly connected to the richness, integrity and beauty of the Iroquoian people. This performance of Kaha:wi was an excerpt from the longer original production featuring the main scenes of the story. Kaha:wi is a profound contemporary Aboriginal dance performance that bridges the gap between contemporary and traditional Iroquoian song and dance without losing the integrity of the cultural content and dance style. The choreography, music and design for Kaha:wi explores fundamental philosophies of Iroquoian culture such as honouring the cycle of Life, thanksgiving, sacredness of the natural world, rite ceremonies and duality. Choreographically, Kaha:wi draws inspiration from Iroquoian social dances such as the Gada:tro:t (Standing Quiver Dance or Stomp Dance), Ehsga:nye: gae:nase: (New Womens Shuffle Dance), Gayowaga:yoh (Old Mocassin Dance) and the Wa enoti:yo (Stick Dance). Musically, Kaha:wi highlights traditional based songs such as the Dawn Song, Gada:tro:t, naming songs and Ato:wi:se (Womens Chant or Moon Songs). 3. Follow-up and Ongoing CPPAMO Work:

The key themes of the Town Hall, and the two workshops within it, were consistent with the series of CPPAMO workshops entitled Developing Strategies for Building Audiences from Aboriginal and Culturally Diverse Communities. As noted in the report on the first Town Hall, these workshops involve CCI and its members from Markham, Toronto, Ontario Contact, Brampton, Mississauga, Oakville, Kingston, Peterborough and Ottawa in a series of educational sessions aimed at producing concrete strategies for implementation by these members and CPPAMOs Roundtable. The workshops are being conducted between June 2010 and April 2011 to enable implementation in the fall 2011. These workshops have addressed and will continue to address the following issues: 1) Examining the characteristics of Aboriginal and ethno-racial communities and relationship to audience segmentation. Held on June 29, 2010, this full day session involved presentations on demographic changes as well as the capacities and interests of immigrants. 2) Aboriginal Arts Activities and Partnerships, and, Connecting to Ethno-Racial Communities. This session was held on November 23, 2010 and focused on building partnerships with Aboriginal artists and arts organizations and developing ethno-racial and Aboriginal artists and audiences. 3) What makes for a good relationship with presenters and performers. Scheduled for January, 29, 2011, this full day session will be led by CCI members and Ontario Contact

and will provide information to and facilitate discussion with CPPAMO Roundtable members, Canada Council Stand Firm members and other Aboriginal and ethno-racial performing arts organizations interested in developing relationships with presenters. As part of this session, Aboriginal and ethno-racial performers will discuss the histories (cultural traditions) and contemporary artistic standards that inform the development of performing arts by Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists. 4) Developing audience segmentation for CCI members and identifying successful audience development strategies. Scheduled for March 24, 2011, this half-day session will draw on research related to developing diverse audiences from the U.K. and Australia (e.g., adjust your view: developing multuicultural audiences for the arts) and will also involve presentations by CPPAMO Roundtable members involved in marketing and audience development with African descent, Asian, South Asian and Aboriginal performing arts organizations, e.g., danceImmersion, Menaka Thakker Dance, Neighbourhood Arts Network of Toronto, Scarborough Arts Councils Creative Mosaics Project data gathered by Creative Trust and CCI through their audience engagement work. 5) Finalizing strategies for audience development within Aboriginal and ethno-racial communities. This full-day session will be led by CPPAMO Artistic Director, charles c. smith, and involve CCI members and Roundtable members in developing concrete, time-specific action plans aimed at increasing programming of performances from Aboriginal and ethnoracial communities and engaging audiences from diverse communities. In addition to developing these workshops, evidence-based research has been conducted to assist participating organizations in addressing their challenges and needs. In this regard, the evidence-based research will be implemented through a participatory process that will aim to build on the work done in the aforementioned workshops. It is anticipated that this will enable participating organizations to learn from and reflect on the developments in other performing arts organizations. The consultations, workshops and research on evidence-based models will be key to developing future programs within participating organizations so that they can anticipate community expectations, benchmark their efforts and institute efforts that are cutting edge, bringing together new forms of cultural expressions while providing venues for exploring diverse and hybrid forms of such expression. The development of governance models to support this will be approached in a similar manner involving all participating CCI members in a process of organizational change. Based on this, guides and toolkits will be developed to address the core mandates of performing arts organizations, specifically their operations, planning, programming and decision-making processes in such areas as: 1. Employment. This will address recruiting, retaining, educating, training and promoting individuals from diverse communities; 2. Programming and Curatorial Decision-making. This will address staging events from diverse communities while, at the same time, collaborating with diverse communities in promoting cultural productions;

3. Training and Development. This will address the need to ensure staff of performing arts organizations have the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills needed to implement cultural pluralism in their organizations; 4. Media and Communications. This will address opportunities to promote artistic and cultural activities in diverse communities and the most effective means of communicating to dverse communities, e.g., local media, community and arts/cultural organizations; 5. Governance. This will address how to recruit, support, maintain and develop a Board of Directors and volunteers reflective of diverse communities and who exercise their governance function with knowledge and sensitivity to core values and principles of cultural pluralism. Following the final workshops, CPPAMO will release a toolkit on pluralism based on the themes noted above and identifying evidence-based practices for each theme area.

APPENDICES

WELCOME AND GREETINGS!

Welcome to the third Town Hall on Pluralism in Performing Arts convened by Cultural Pluralism in Performing Arts Movement Ontario (CPPAMO)! I hope you had a good summer and are having a good fall. As Project Lead for CPPAMO, I wish to thank CAPACOA for inviting CPPAMO to collaborate in this program and I am honoured to welcome you to our third Town Hall on Cultural Pluralism in Performing Arts. Our first Town Hall was held at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus in the beginning of the year and our second was held in June as part of Magnetic Norths Industry Series. This event with CAPACOA includes performances by some very dynamic dancers and dance companies as well as an astounding panel of individuals engaged in promoting pluralism in dance, theatre and local arts. We are also privileged to have a keynote address by the prolific writer and Governor-General Award-winning poet George Elliot Clarke. CPPAMO is a movement of Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists working with presenters to empower the performing arts communities of Ontario. CPPAMO is supported by Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists who are involved in theatre, music, dance and literary arts and include representatives of Sampradaya Dance, Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Little Pear Garden Theatre Collective, Centre for Indigenous Theatre, Sparrow in the Room, b-current, why not theatre, urban arts and backforward collective, Culture Days, Canada Council Stand Firm members, Menaka Thakker Dance, Obsidian Theatre, the Collective of Black Artists, CanAsian Dance, Teya Peya Productions, and others. CPPAMO is working with Community Cultural Impresarios (CCI) and its members to build their capacities, cultural competencies and understanding of pluralism in performing arts so that CCI and its members engage performers from these communities and, thereby, enable audiences across Ontario to access artistic expressions from diverse communities on a regular basis. For this Town Hall, we have worked closely with CAPACOA and in consultation with the Canada Dance Festival, Canada Dance Association and CPPAMO appreciates the input they have given to shaping this event. We look forward to working with them, CAPACOA and other CCI members in the coming years. It is also important to mention the ongoing support CPPAMO receives from CCIs Executive Director, Warren Garret, and his staff and from the funders for this initiative: Canada Council for the Arts, University of Toronto Scarborough Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Program, the Ontario Trillium Foundation; the Ontario Ministry of Culture and the Ontario Arts Council. Of course, events like this do not just happen. There are people who put in time and effort behind the scenes to make it all seem so easy. For their efforts, Id like to thank Angela Britto and Erin Bernhardt who have worked tirelessly to make this event happen. I hope you find much to take home with you from this Town Hall. Very truly yours charles c. smith Project Lead CPPAMO Lecturer, Cultural Pluralism in the Arts/UTSC

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Sunday November 7, 2010 1. Greetings - charles c. smith 1:30

2. Dance Performance- Collective of Black Artists 1:45 3. 4. 5. 6. Key Note - George Elliot Clarke 1:55 Dance Performance Ipsita Nova 2:55 Health Break 3:15 Panel Presentations 3:30 Sandra Laronde Shahin Sayadi Jeanne Holmes

7. Dance Performance Kaha:wi Dance Theatre 4:45 8. Closing Comments 5:05 - charles c. smith

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THE MC charles c. smith

charles is a published poet, playwright and essayist. He won second prize for his play Last Days for the Desperate from Black Theatre Canada. He has edited three collections of poetry, has one published book (Partial Lives) and his poetry has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including Poetry Canada Review, the Quille and Quire, Descant, Dandelion, the Amethyst Review, Bywords, Canadian Ethnic Studies and others. He recently received a grant from the Ontario Arts Councils Writers Reserve Grants Program and is currently working on a multidisciplinary performance piece based on his poetry. This piece is being produced by the wind in the leaves collective and involves such artists as Kevin Ormsby (dance), Olga Barrios (dance), Robin Styba (photography), and Anahita Azrahimi (visual arts). charles has provided advice to numerous cultural organizations interested in developing and implementing equity and diversity policies and programs, including the Ontario Science Centre, the SONY Centre for Performing Arts, the Toronto Theatre Alliance, Community Cultural Impresarios, Etobicoke and Lakeshore Arts, the Canada Dance Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and several others. He has made presentations on pluralism in performing arts to Soulpepper Theatre as well as Creative Trust and National Historical Sites Alliance of Ontario. charles is also the Lecturer, Cultural Pluralism in the Arts at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus.

THE PANELISTS
Shahin Sayadi Artistic Director, Onelight Theatre Shahin was born and raised in Abadan, Iran; he arrived in Montreal, wearing shorts and a t-shirt on February 1, 1986 and, notwithstanding the bitter cold, decided to stay. Shahin is the founder and Artistic Director of Halifax's Onelight Theatre. He has been responsible for the development and staging of nine original productions since 2002 and has several new works in development that are scheduled to debut in 2011 and 2012. Shahin, along with the Onelight team, has also hosted several Conferences that explored cultural diversity and the arts in Canada. The Canadian Theatre Identity Crisis: Challenging Eurocentricity Through Aboriginal Myth and Ritual (2005) and Prismatic (2008) which looked at the experiences of culturally diverse artists who live and work outside of Canada's major urban centres. October 10-17 Onelight Theatre is hosting Prismatic 2010, a national multi-art festival and conference in venues across Halifax. Shahin is actively involved in local and national arts organizations, including the PACT (Professional Association of Canadian Theatres) Board of Directors, the Ad Hoc Assembly an organization of Canada's Aboriginal and culturally diverse theatre companies, and the Legacy Centre for the Arts in Halifax, NS. Shahin is a lifelong fan of Bruce Lee.

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Jeanne Holmes, Producing Director Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation Recently appointed to the position of Producing Director of Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation, Jeanne Holmes joins the company following a long and successful career in the arts during which time she developed her wide ranging abilities, showing an intuitive awareness for the creative culture of dance. She comes to Dancemakers after a stellar career at Harbourfront Centre, working in various departments in key leadership roles before assuming the position of Dance Programmer in 2001. During her tenure at Harbourfront Centre Holmes was responsible for the dance programming in the World Stage international performance series, the coordination of NextSteps a series that showcases Canadian-based dance artists and the Artistic Direction of the annual contemporary dance series. Holmes is entering her third year as Chair to the board of directors for the CanDance Network, an association of specialized dance presenting organizations from across Canada, and is President of the Board of Directors for Dusk Dances, an outdoor dance festival that brings contemporary and traditional dance to public parks. During her 20 years of experience in the cultural sector, Holmes has developed an extensive knowledge of the national and international milieu as well as strong ties to the local dance community and continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to the development and presentation of dance and live performance in Canada. Sandra Laronde Artistic Director, Red Sky Performance Founder and Artistic Director of Red Sky, Sandra Laronde is an award-winning director, producer, choreographer, actor and dancer. Sandra's vision for Red Sky is to create a leading international company that shapes contemporary world Indigenous performance, and to make a significant contribution to the artistic vibrancy of Canada and the world. Currently, she is also the Director of Indigenous Arts at The Banff Centre, a globally respected arts and cultural institution. She divides her time between Banff, Alberta and Toronto, Ontario. Sandra is originally from the Teme-AugamaAnishnaabe (People of the Deep Water) in Temagami, northern Ontario. In 2006, Sandra was awarded the Ontario Good Citizenship Medal that pays special tribute to those Ontarians whose lives exemplify excellence and achievement in the finest order. In addition, she received the 2006 Paul D. Fleck Fellowship in the Arts from The Banff Centre. In 2004, she was one of 225 Canadians chosen to participate in the Governor-General's Canadian Leadership program, which celebrates promising leaders who are making a significant impact on Canada. In the same year, Sandra was also the recipient of Toronto City Council's 2004 Aboriginal Affairs Award for her contribution towards improving the quality of life for the Aboriginal community of Toronto. She is also listed in the Canada's Who's Who that features notable living Canadians.

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THE KEY NOTE GEORGE ELLIOT CLARKE

In addition to being a poet, playwright and literary critic Clarke is the E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto. He taught English and Canadian Studies at Duke University (1994-1999). During 1998-99 he was appointed the Visiting Seagrams Chair in Canadian Studies at McGill University, then became professor of English at the U. of T. in 1999, before being appointed E.J. Pratt Professor in 2003. George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1960, a seventh-generation Canadian of African-American and Mikmaq Amerindian heritage. He earned a B.A. honours in English from the University of Waterloo (1984), an M.A. in English from Dalhousie University (1989) and a Ph.D. in English from Queens University (1993). Before joining the academic profession Clarke was employed in a variety of jobs: parliamentary aide (House of Commons, Ottawa, 1987-91), newspaper editor in Halifax and then Waterloo, social worker in Halifax (1985-86) and legislative researcher (Provincial Parliament, Toronto, 1982-83). He still writes a column for the Halifax Herald and is a freelance contributor to numerous publications. As a writer George Elliott Clarke has published in a variety of genres: verse collections, Saltwater Spirituals and Deeper Blues (1983), and Lush Dreams, Blue Exile (1994), a verse-novel, Whylah Falls (1990 & 2000), two verse plays, Whylah Falls: The Play (1999 & 2000), and Beatrice Chancy (1999). His opera Beatrice Chancy, with music by James Rolfe, has had four stage productions and a broadcast on CBC television. This powerful opera about slavery in the Nova Scotia of the early 1800s won great reviews and enthusiastic audiences. He wrote the screenplay for the feature film, One Heart Broken Into Song (Dir. Clement Virgo, 1999). The verse play, Whylah Falls, was staged in Venice in Italian (2002). Clarke continues to publish poetry with Provenal Songs (1993 & 1997), Gold Indigoes (2000), Blue (2001) and Illuminated Verse (2005). His Execution Poems (2001) won the Governor Generals Award for Poetry. Clarke has been instrumental in promoting the work of writers of African descent, especially those of Nova Scotia. In 2002 he published, Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature. See the bibliography for a list which includes his poetry, edited books, criticism in postcolonial literature and other academic publications. The work of George Elliott Clarke has won awards in addition to critical recognition among these are the Portia White Prize for Artistic Achievement from the Nova Scotia Arts Council, a Bellagio Center Fellowship (1998), the Outstanding Writer in Film and Television Award (2000) and three honorary doctorates: a Doctor of Laws degree (Dalhousie University, 1999) a Doctor of Letters degree (University of New Brunswick, 2000) and Doctor of Letters from the University of Alberta (2005). He was given the Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award in 2004, and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellows Prize, Montreal, 2005. He earned the Distinguished Teaching Award, the Black Alumni Association Faculty Achievement Award and the Undergraduate Teaching Award, all at the University of Toronto in 2005. Planet Africa TV gave him the Planet Africa Renaissance Award, Toronto, 2005. George Elliott Clarke has been an invited speaker to conferences and universities around the world. In October, 2006, he was appointed to the Order of Nova Scotia, and received an Honorary Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) from the University of Waterloo.

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THE PERFORMERS

The Collective of Black Artists (COBA) presents Traditional West African dance, music and folklore; Caribbean Indigenous Folk dance, music and rituals in their purest forms possible for the theatrical stage. While also creating contemporary works developed from an Africanist movement aesthetic that reflects African social realities in a global context. Described as a company that "makes you sit up and take notice for all the right reasons" (Deirdre Kelly, Globe & Mail), COBA has carved a niche for itself as a performance collective that both educates and entertains. COBA was founded in 1993 by Junia Mason, Charmaine Headley, BaKari E. Lindsay (formerly Eddison B. Lindsay) and Mosa Neshama (formerly Kim McNeilly) four Black dancers fired with the raw passion to fill a void on Toronto's arts scene by constructing a platform for dance creations that reflected their physical and social realities. From the beginning, the quartet championed arts education, working extensively with teachers in Ontario and New York state. In 1994, they launched, in 1994 NIA - Education in Action COBA's first school touring program with an African History theme. That same year DanceWorks presented COBA's first main stage performance at Festival in the Square, where COBA premiered Portrait. Portrait, a female trio set to the music of Nina Simone, takes a stark look at race, colour and the human condition, along with a suite of West African dances entitled Jambalaya. Under the leadership of artistic co-founders BaKari E. Lindsay and Charmaine Headley for the past 14 years, the driving force behind the Collective has been the creation and production of works that reflect Africanist social themes and perspectives of movement. Using storytelling, music and drama interwoven with dance, COBA is able to share life wisdom with audiences and future generations. COBA has also commissioned works from several world-renowned Africanist artists including: American West African dance pioneer Linda Faye Johnson, percussion virtuoso Baba Olatunji, Haitian dancer / choreographer Jeanguy Saintus, Senegalese Griot Alassane Sarr, Sis Robin Hibbert (New York) and internationally acclaimed South African soloist Vincent Mantsoe. Title of Work: Excerpt from Djembefola Choreographer: BaKari Segun Lindsay Performers: BaKari Segun Lindsay, Ndere Ade Nimon Headley-Lindsay Music: Baba Toure and Ndere Ade Nimon Headley-Lindsay

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Costumes: BaKari Segun Lindsay Choreographic Statement: The Djembe is a Malinke instrument. It is presently one of the most popular drums in North America. To be a Djembefola is to embody the essence of this instrument. Not everyone who plays a Djembe is a Djembefola, because it requires love, passion, and spiritual connection. Performers Biographies BaKari E. Lindsay was born on the sunny isle of Trinidad, West Indies. Perfecting his crafts for the past 25 years, BaKari is a dancer, choreographer, researcher, singer, musician, costume designer/maker and father. He studied at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The School of Toronto Dance Theatre on scholarship and with various teachers from the Caribbean and the African Continent, andholds a Masters Degree in Dance Ethnology, and Bachelors of Education degree from York University. Bakari developed a physical language for training in West African and Diasporic African dance culture entitled A-Feeree The Physical Language. Co-founder of COBA (Collective Of Black Artists), BaKari has danced for Danny Grossman Dance Company, Artcho Danse Repertoire (Haiti), Jubilation Dance Co. (USA), Toronto Dance Theatre, National Dance Company of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), Les Enfants Dance Co (T&T), and several independent choreographers in Canada, United States and the Caribbean. He also appeared in the original performing cast of Canada's Production of Disney'sThe Lion King. BaKari has choreographed works for Les Enfants Dance Co., Entre Duex, and The National Dance Company of T&T, while creating a body of work on COBA Collective Of Black Artists. He is on the faculty of Ryerson University and has taught dance at York University, Humber College, Lester B. Pearson School for the Performing Arts and for several dance schools, institutions and community groups. BaKari's personal artistic vision is to develop a harmonious balance between artistic practice and traditional cultural values. N'dere Nimon Headley-Lindsay was born in Toronto as the only child of two artists, which can be a big responsibility. N'dere is the youngest company member of the COBA Collective Of Black Artists. He is said to have been drumming and dancing in the womb and has studied drumming with various Griots (keepers of African history) and drummers from Senegal, Guinea, the United States and Trinidad and Tobago. N'dere is a senior at Etobicoke School of the Arts and has an interest in drawing and painting, while also having a passion for sports, especially basketball.

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Established in 2008, Ipsita Nova Dance Projects is led by dancer and choreographer Nova Bhattacharya, who brings her classical bharatanatyam training into the world of contemporary dance with elegance and authority. Through a varied and acclaimed repertoire - which includes creations from Bhattacharya, Peggy Baker, Mika Kurosawa, Dana Gingras, Jos Navas, Menaka Thakkar and most recently Laurence Lemieux - audiences are exposed to an expanse of movement drawn from classical vocabulary, integrated with improvised movement, rigorously structured and performed with passion and precision. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Bhattacharya has developed an intriguing body of work - ranging from full length classical recitals to powerful contemporary solos and duets - that showcases todays bharatantayam and Canadian contemporary dance with a South Asian sensibility. Her performances have struck a deep emotional chord with audiences and critics alike, and have been presented by Canadas National Arts Centre, Toronto's Danceworks and Kalanidhi Fine Arts, Vancouver's Dancing on the Edge, Tokyos An Creative and at fabrik Potsdam / 17th Potsdamer Tanztage International Festival of Contemporary Dance. Through the creation and presentation of powerful humanistic dance works in collaboration with choreographers, composers and visual designers, the company invites audiences to embrace dance for the visceral experience it can offer. Nova Bhattacharya has been acclaimed as one of Canadas most captivating dance artists. She has trained with some of bharatanatyams most esteemed teachers including Menaka Thakkar, Kalanidhi Narayan and Kitappa Pillai. Her development in contemporary dance has been informed by her ongoing work with Peggy Baker, Sasha Ivanochko and Louis Laberge-Ct and in butoh by Yumiko Yoshioka and Denise Fujiwara. She was a member of Menaka Thakkar and Company for eleven years, appearing as a soloist and company member for many national and international tours. In 1986 she embarked on a career as an independent artist. Described in The Globe & Mail as possessing a style that is "bold and disturbingly direct" Bhattacharya is vivacious performer with a charismatic stage presence, recognized for her strong technique and thoughtful characterizations. She has appeared in the works of Joan Phillips, Sinha Danse, Fujiwara Dance Inventions, Kaeja Ddance, Viv Moore and Bouchardanse.Eager to explore the scope for innovation within the Bharatanatyam form and seeking to create works that utilize classical vocabulary in a contemporary aesthetic, Bhattacharya began choreographing in 1997. Her choreography has been characterized as "a contemporary expression of the Bharatanatyam form and more" (Vancouver Sun) and been commissioned by the Canada Dance Festival, Cahoots Theatre Projects, Dusk Dances, Theatre Direct Canada and Toronto Dance Theatre.Bhattacharyas artistry is a reflection of her classical training and present- day aesthetic, her work is formally rigorous and displays an eloquence that goes beyond pure movement. [Nova ] dances with a kick-ass authority that brings a contemporary edge to classical Indian dance. eye Weekly Bhattacharya...smoulders... She is a born storyteller and a purveyor of moods, her intense eyes holding the watcher in their grip, while her expressive, compact body radiates emotion. - The Globe & Mail

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About Kaha:wi Dance Theatre Kaha:wi Dance Theatre (pronounced Ga-Ha-Wee) is a an artist based company founded by Artistic Director/choreographer Mohawk Santee Smith. KDT creates professional dance productions and is committed to increasing awareness and understanding of Aboriginal culture through the work of the company. Smith has become known for her successful blend of traditional and contemporary dance elements. Kaha:wi means she carries in the Mohawk language. The name Kaha:wi is an ancient traditional name of my family. It is thousands of years old and it was the name of my maternal grandmother and is also the name of my daughter. This name Kaha:wi will be passed on to other individuals in my family for generations to come. The name is timeless...it spans past, present, future. It has sacredness attached to it and the connection to indigenous history. In the generic form, Kaha:wi means to carry. Therefore, the name implies a connection to ancient Mohawk family ways and the action of carrying. This in a sense is what the organization does carrying culture through dance and dance related activities. It connects to the past, present and future perpetuating the idea of the continuous cycling universe. Creativity and the continuation of cultural knowledge and practice is the foundation of my artistic expression. ~Santee Smith Kaha:wi (Excerpts) Cast Life Force, Four Direction Spirit, Community - Santee Smith Mother, Four Direction Spirit, Community - Emily Law Daughter, Four Direction Spirit, Community Mariana Medellin-Meinke Lover, Community Piotr Biernat 1Creative/Production Team Artistic Director/Choreographer: Santee Smith Arrangement/Composer: Donald Quan Musicians: Rick Shadrach Lazar, Bob Doidge Singer/Songwriters: ElizaBeth Hill, Santee Smith, Amos Key Jr., Ulali Additional Recording studio: Grant Avenue Studio Set/Costume Designer: Cheryl Lalonde Original Lighting Design: Roelof Peter Snippe Production Stage Manager/Tour Lighting Designer: Alaina Perttula

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Synopsis The cycle of Life unfolds throughout Kaha:wi as a grandmother dies and a new baby is born. The narrative weaves around the lives of three generations of women and the community in which they thrive. Steeped in traditional Iroquoian based song and dance, the contemporary dance production is powerful and captivating. Kaha:wi touches audiences on an emotional, physical and spiritual level. Kaha:wi is powerful due to the cultural weight it demonstrates by being profoundly connected to the richness, integrity and beauty of the Iroquoian people. This evenings performance of Kaha:wi is an excerpt from the longer original production and features the main scenes of the story. Background of Kaha:wi Kaha:wi is a profound contemporary Aboriginal dance performance that bridges the gap between contemporary and traditional Iroquoian song and dance without losing the integrity of the cultural content and dance style. Kaha:wi premiered at the Premiere Dance Theatre at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto 2004. The original contemporary Aboriginal music is pre-recorded to CD format and has been nominated for two Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards and was the winner of a Hamilton Music Award in 2005. The choreography, music and design for Kaha:wi explores fundamental philosophies of Iroquoian culture such as honouring the cycle of Life, thanksgiving, sacredness of the natural world, rite ceremonies and duality. Choreographically, Kaha:wi draws inspiration from Iroquoian social dances such as the Gada:tro:t (Standing Quiver Dance or Stomp Dance), Ehsga:nye: gae:nase: (New Womens Shuffle Dance), Gayowaga:yoh (Old Mocassin Dance) and the Wa enoti:yo (Stick Dance). Musically, Kaha:wi highlights traditional based songs such as the Dawn Song, Gada:tro:t, naming songs and Ato:wi:se (Womens Chant or Moon Songs). Kaha:wi has been performed at: Premiere Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre (Toronto, ON, 2004); National Museum of the American Indian (Washington DC, 2005); The Sanderson Centre (Brantford, ON, 2005); Hartwick College (New York, 2005); The Banff Centre for the Arts (Banff, AB, 2005); etc. Kaha:wi Reviews Smith's evening-length celebration of Mother Earth, finds emotional resonance in its evocation of traditional Iroquois cultural symbols, including the archetypal ancestor spirit, acknowledgment of the powerful four directions, honoring of elders and celebration of the continuity of life as a cycle from birth to death to afterlife and rebirth...Smith and her dancers carry their upper torsos responsive to breath and gravity, connecting them deeply, spiritually, to Mother Earth. Washington Post, Lisa Traiger, 2005 Her choreography is bold, earthy, sensual and exciting... Calgary FFWD, 2005

Ravishing mix of styles and spirits. Her ambitious, full-length Kaha:wi was awarded a standing ovation by an enthusiastic audience, while focusing on a dance artist who can mount classy productions with substance.Her depiction of pregnancy and birth, for example, is very dramatic, as is her erotic partnering for her lovers. The group tribal dances are down-right thrilling. In short, Kaha:wi succeeds because it walks the fine line between a genuine spiritual experience that is also ravishing in its visual components. Globe and Mail, Paula Citron, 2004 Artistic Biographies

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Santee Smith: B.P.E, BA Psychology, MA: Dance, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Santee Smith is from the Mohawk Nation, Turtle Clan and lives on Six Nations Reserve, Ontario. Ms. Smith is the founding Artistic Director and Choreographer for Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. She holds a Masters Degree in Dance from York University and has spent most of her life committed to dance and creative expression. Santee attended the National Ballet School (1982-88). She expanded her knowledge of movement with a Kinesiology degree from McMaster University. In1996 she began creating her own choreography and developing a movement style that reflects who she is as an artist. Santee creates, produces and presents her choreographic work nationally and internationally. Santee is the recipient of the Chalmers Award, K.M. Hunter Award for Dance, Canada Councils Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for the most outstanding mid-career artist in the field of Dance and the first-ever John Hobday Award for Arts Management. Her nominations include: Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Production in the Dance Division, Outstanding Performance (Ensemble) in the Dance Division for A Story Before Time; Gemini Awards, Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program or Series for Here On Earth in Dancing with Spirit. Her CD Kaha:wi received a Hamilton Music Award in 2003 and 2 Canadian Aboriginal Music Award nominations, Best Producer and Best Song. She presented the premiere of Kaha:wi at the Premiere Dance Theatre in Toronto, Ontario in 2004 and the Yoh Ha Hee Yoh International Tour in 2005. She was a featured choreographer for the CanDance Networks: Indigenous Dancelands I and II with performances at New Dance Horizons (Regina), University of Lethbridge, Peterborough New Dance, Tangente (Montreal) and Dancing on the Edge Festival (Vancouver) and the Vancouver International Dance Festival. Under Santees Artistic Direction, KDT has created and produced: Here On Earth at Harbourfront Centre Theatre; The Threshing Floor at Nozhem Theatre; A Constellation of Bones at the Enwave Theatre; Woman In White solo; Sacred Spring; Here On Earth tours national and international; A Story Before Time co-production with The Banff Centre for the Arts premiere production and tours; A Soldier's Tale at The Great Hall, Hamilton Place; Fragmented Heart: Mixed Program including Tripped Up Blues (Aboriginal youth commission) at the Canada Dance Festival, National Arts Centre. Santee is currently in production for TransMigration based on the murals of shaman artist Norval Morrisseau to be premiered at The Fleck Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto in April 2012. My work is a response and a reflection of the world in which I live. Through dance I am able to express my dreams, visions and stories historical and contemporary.

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Emily Law, DANCER Emily Law was born in Toronto and started dancing while attending the Etobicoke School of the Arts in 2000. She has many passions including contemporary dance, various styles of street dance, and visual art. She is a graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She is a founding member of contemporary dance collectives: cube3; Octamerous and the Toronto house dance crew Warehouse Jacks. Emily has enjoyed working with Kaha:wi Dance Theatre since 2006. She has also had the pleasure of working with Gadfly, The Chimera Project, the Parahumans Dance Theatre, Event Horizon Dance, Piotr Biernat and was a resident artist at Sound Travels 2006. Piotr R. Biernat, DANCER Piotr R. Biernat, originally from Poland, moved to Canada in 1996 after completing Master of Fine Art at the National Theatre School in Wroclaw. He continued to train in contemporary dance and choreography with Anna Wyman, Main Dance Studio and the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. He has had the privilege to dance with many great artist and dance companies including: CORPUS, Kaeja dDance, Peter Chin and Danny Grossman. He has been featured in dance films, promotional and music videos. He presented his own choreography through body of work, Past Perfect, To-get-Her, Black and White, Bodies and Motion, at the Toronto Film School, Canadian Children Dance Theatre and independently at Toronto International Dance Festival, Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, The Wrecking Ball, Young Street Festival. He recently choreographed his first Bravo! Fact Video Acalanto. Mariana Medellin-Meinke, DANCER Mariana travelled to Canada in 2000 for her dance studies. She has trained professionally in ballet at La Escuela Superior de Musica y Danza (INBA), The Quinte Ballet School and contemporary dance at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Regarding creation she has presented work at fFIDA, LANZATE, A choreographer's Ball, Series 8:08, Monster Feelings and other venues. Mariana has worked with Trish Beatty, BoucharDanse (Sylvie Bouchard), Roberto Campanella, Danny Grossman Dance Company, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre (Santee Smith), Kaeja d'Dance, Sebastian Mena, Jonathan Osborn, Brian Solomon and William Yong. She has an ongoing artistic collaboration with Nicole Dupuis, Daenin Godfrey, Whitney Hewitt, Brian Solomon and Brendan Wyatt. She is currently working on her latest multi-disciplinary solo. Mariana would like to thank her beloved family. Alaina Perttula, PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER, TOUR LIGHTING DESIGNER, Alaina is excited to be working with Kaha:wi Dance Theatre in Albuquerque! She has been working in theatre and dance steadily since 2004. Alaina received her BFA in Theatre - Technical Production from Ryerson Theatre School in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario Canada and has kept very busy working in dance, theatre and live entertainment as a stage manager/lighting designer/technician. Recent dance and theatre shows include Lighting Designer for gas (Next Stage Theatre Festival) and dust (Wildside Festival Centaur Theatre Montreal) with jsquared Theatre projects, LD/PSM for the Canadian and USA and Mexican tours of A Story Before Time (Kaha:wi Dance Theatre). Highlights of her corporate and concert credits include: Digital Lighting Technician for The 96th Annual Grey Cup Halftime Show (Canadian Football League Montreal 2008), Lighting Systems Tech for A Mystical Journey (Aga Khan Trust for Culture - USA Tour 2008).

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KEYNOTE ADDRESS
George Elliott Clarke O.C., O.N.S., Ph.D.

The Stage Is Not White And Neither Is Canada

Last Halloween, 2010, two members of the Campbellford, Ontario, Royal Canadian Legion, staged such a terrifically horrifying, pretend pageant of anti-black racism, that the actors, both white, took First Prize for Best Costume. In this tableau, one man played the part of a Ku Klux Klansman, while the other, his face blackened, acted the role of a soon-to-be-lynched Negro. The controversy over this at-first-presumed-innocent, likely impromptu, community show, soon achieved viral pitch, thanks to the seemingly blatant racism of parading the blackface victim on a rope tugged by the white-hooded, proto-lyncher. Although I appreciate the righteous protests over this offensive, Halloween horror display, much of the vituperation has been vented by urban and urbane commentators, sneering, sophisticatedly, at the gauche antics (and optics) of the hicks and rubes inhabiting the great darkness that pertains just beyond the borders of the Greater Toronto Area. In those outer suburbs, the downtown hip believe, Martin Luther King is even more dead than William Lyon Mackenzie King, and The Queen herself is present only in coin, not cash. I come to trouble this condescending analysis: Blackface minstrelsy has a long and proud history in the Great White North, no matter whether you speak English or French. It survives, too, in the Kitsch of Sambo lawn jockeys and grinning, straw-hat fishers, as well as in the Confederate flag Stars and Bars insert in the grills of 18-wheeler, transport trucks. Though it would be simplistic to cast every lover of Dixie mementoes as racist, I will posit that such folk have purchase on bucolic, pacific, and sentimental images of American slavery and, specifically, of the happy-go-lucky Darky, content to pluck a banjo and chow down on as much fried chicken and watermelon as he or she can steal from a tolerant, good-hearted massa. I wager that our Campbellford actors in the faux, lynching comedy were blissfully unconscious of their presentation of Grand Ole Opry folklore, for they likely deemed it good, ol Canuck folklore, and, if so, they were right. Indeed, before the advent of radio, cinema, and television, mass popular entertainment of the 19th and early 20th centuries took the form of vaudeville, including travelling American acts. These programmes often featured live depictions of scene from Harriet Beecher Stowes tearjerking, abolitionist novel, Uncle Toms Cabin (1852), pr they would field black-corked minstrels, who would recreate nostalgic scenes of plantation life, complete with banjo and imaginative dances. In their book, Maritime Music Greats: Fifty Years of Hits and Heartbreak (1992), Virginia Beaton and Stephen Pederson note that some of Atlantic Canadas country music starts got their starts, as children, by emulating the blackface minstrels who toured their towns. It is probable that, for many audiences in rural Canada, the first black people in quotation marks they saw were dancing, singing, charming fools, but all whites in blackface. (Although Canada does not share the American Republics history of bloody pogroms, it does have its own record of racially prompted hangings, which served as a polite equivalent. Although unlawful lynching and lawful hanging were marked as justice, they were also set forth as

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entertainment, or even as secular form of the Passion of Christ, or as neo-pagan sacrifice ritual, with the demise of the black subject [scapegoat] serving to expiate the unspoken lust and greed and violence of the white perpetrators.) Our Campbellford players are innocent, presumably, of how thoroughly Canadian their Dixie tableau was, and they may be excused, if we recall the popular writing of Thomas Chandler Haliburton, whose Victorian era political satire makes wanton use of Negro characters as figures of tomfoolery and menace, many of them abused on African-Nova Scotians who Haliburton encountered as a circuit judge. As late June 2008, the town of Windsor, Nova Scotia, was able to issue a tourism brochure whose cover depicted an ex-slave, abjectly kneeling before Haliburtons well-dressed and recoiling Sam Skick character. When the local black community protested this caricature, the first reaction was not unlike that of some of the Campbellford Legionnaires: Why all this fuss? Historian Jim Hornby notes that blackface minstrel acts were still a draw in rural Prince Edward Island into the 1980s (Hornby, Black Islanders, 1991,) and the Smokey Mokes Minstrels that played to pack houses in Canada, in the mid-1960s, are still remembered fondly (see Sue Carter Film, Radio Free Northwood, The Coast [Halifax, NS], November 18, 2010). Despite such examples, one may be forgiven for thinking that Dixie lore, or even cross burnings (as occurred in Nova Scotia in late February 2010), or fantasy lynching, is the antiquarian interest of country bumpkins. But blackface minstrelsy, in other, sophisticated incarnations, has enjoyed elite support. Check, for instance, the 1992-93 dispute over the Toronto staging of Jerome Kerns and Oscar Hammerstein IIs musical, Show Boat (1927), at the then-North York Centre for the Performing Arts. According to some black intellectuals, the show constitutes a white fantasy of black subservience and submission, which is, incidentally, exactly how the plot unfolds. Show boat Captain Andys daughter, Magnolia, a would-be singer, gets her chance when Julie, the mixed-race star, abandons the stage so as to give Magnolia the break. Not only that, but the story begins in Natchez, Mississippi, where, in actual history, a murderous race riot had jus unfolded. Yet, there is little reference to black suffering in Show Boat. Though the signature Paul Robeson-sung tune, Ol Man River, is presumed to acknowledge AfricanAmerican struggle, the song lyrics speak to a nave communism, suitable to the 1920s, emphasizing the oppression of workers. I do not canvass the opposition to Show Boat to inveigh against it; rather, I seek to illustrate the ways in which this supposedly progressive show may yet constitute a modern or post-modern example of blackface minstrelsy. Unfortunately, some black protestors who opposed the show on the basis of its allegedly racist and foreign (i.e. American) provenance, soon were themselves accused of anti-Semitism or of advocating censorship, and these rejoinders serves to stymie any serious debate about the mounting of the production. The chief production of the show, Garth Drabinksy, of Livent, Inc., to flout the charges of racism, flew renowned African-American literary scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., to Toronto, Ontario, to lecture African-Canadian intellectuals on the merits of Show Boat, its principal advantage being that it apparently gave African-Americans entre to Broadway during the Depression. Gates intervention did not quell the controversy. Yet the brouhaha served to obscure salient points: 1) It was impossible to deny the nostalgic desire of many to hear Ol Man River, which has been decontextualized and misinterpreted. Thanks to Robersons bravura reinterpretation of the tune, so that it seems to belong to the Civil Rights Movement, when it really belongs to the

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Wobbies. Never mind: For many, Ol Man River is Broadways prelude to Kings 1963 I Have a Dream, speech, and so is just as anthemic and just as sacrosanct, though it is blackface minstrelsy in a social demographic guise. 2) Naturally, any consideration of Canadian issues of class and race was left unaddressed: Still, one must ask, what is the racial history of Canadian mass entertainment? (Meilan Lams 1997 National Film Board documentary, Show Girls, featuring black dancers and singers in Montreal, 1920s-2960s, treats some of this history, but it is a rare effort.) 3) Another unanswered question: How much of the opposition to black intellectual protest against Show Boat was drive by a need to contain or cover black analysis of black experience by suggesting that some white writers or analysts could be responsible and qualified to say it better or more universally? Note that communications professor Monica Kin Gagnon has discussed a certain white anxiety around definitions of art making, centering on questions of aesthetic quality (45). She explains: Its routinely perceived, I think, that to be accountable to a process of equitable representation necessarily involves a loss of quality work; however, this very notion of quality is frequently an alibi for a whole set of exclusions and inclusions that maintain the primacy of a white expert, and ethnocentric notions of artistic production (Gagnon 45 [13 Conversations About Art and Cultural Race Politics, 2002]). Arguably, by forwarding Show Boat as a protest against (antiblack) racism, the producers were suggesting that even Walt Disneys Song of the South (1946) could be cast in this light. But, in reality, the musical and the movie are virtually mutual white fantasies. A similar problem arises, however, with Harper Lees novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), and its cinematic and stage productions. Every other year, a black parent or two (or three or four) complains that their child or children is being embarrassed and humiliated in one high school or another due to the novels authenticity in using nigger as dynamically as it was used, historically, given the books setting. Given that some adolescents tease and bully others, to the point of sexual and verbal harassment, some parents have argued that it would be best to withdraw Les novel from the classroom, rather than see their black children traumatized, stigmatized, and marginalized. Occasionally, such requests outrage civil libertarians, who then slam the black parents as benighted, book-banning or book-burning Neanderthals or Nazis (you choose), and shame their offspring as lily-livered and weak-kneed, all because they cant endure a little namecalling. When some black intellectuals have argued that the book need not be banned, but that it should be taught with greater care, and certainly not prescribed as being the only or even the best book on anti-black racism, they also have been critiqued for their alleged backwardness. To me, this dispute centers on the same belief that arose over the reception of show Boat, namely, that white authorship or authority can cover or contain the stories and histories of the Coloured or raced other. Professor Richard Fung registers that, whenever a subject touches on race, it is important to show the stamp of approval from a disinterested (hence white) authority figure (47). He also insists, Whether ethnicity is fetishized or erased, problems arise when critics and curators are insensitive to what the work is about (Fung 47 [13 Conversations About Art and Cultural Race Politics, 2002]). Indeed, few commentators seem to care that Lees novel is not about poor, black, oppressed Southerners, but is more about how a young white girl and her white, liberal, lawyer father learn to do the right thing, despite the prejudices of their white neighbours. For me, the actual silencing of black history and story in the novel is portrayed nicely in the film version (1962), in a terminal scene, wherein Scouts father, Atticus Finch, who has ably defended a black man accused of rape, in a lynch-mob society, receives silent support

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from the segregated blacks present, who stand up as the attorney, played stolidly by Gregory Peck, leaves the courthouse. For me, this scene is about white heroism and black passivity. But it also means the Harper Lee and/or the filmmaker (Robert Mulligan) are speaking consciously or unconsciously, on behalf of black subjects who are not permitted to speak for themselves. Richard Fung protests: I see a lot of white experts and white activists speaking out against white leaders on behalf of Third World peoples who are mainly absent or silent (Fung 127 [13 Conversations, 2002)]. This critique applies to the heroes of To Kill a Mockingbird: The speak for; they cover; they contain. Finally, though I will say squarely that To Kill a Mockingbird is a fine book, one whose secure position on high school syllabi is partly due to Boomer nostalgia for the Civil Rights Movement, it cannot be the only text that we may consult for an understanding of Negrophobia, just as Shakespeares Merchant of Venice cannot be the final statement on European anti-Semitism. Monica Kin Gagnon reports that, in an age weary of so-called identity politics, its largest proponents may well be white supremacists, yet such racial politics are rarely named as such. Imagine calling the identity politics of whit supremacy politically correct, which would be the logic of political conservatives (Gagnon 134 [13 Conversations, 2002]). To my mind, some of the defences of Show Boat and To Kill a Mockingbird, when not issuing from innocent or ignorant yearning for the progressive alliances of the 1930s and 1960s, represent wishes to return Coloured critics to the position of being mute, thankful receivers of white saintliness. In Canada, white supremacy is a phrase that is seldom heard, beyond freak news events of a cross-burning here, a blackface minstrel show there. But Ill agree once again with Richard Fung that white racism is the bedrock of identity politics of race (Fung 20 [13 Conversations, 2002]), even here. The art we stage and produce occurs, essentially, in this context. This when Torontos Queen of Pudding Music Theatre sought to cast the black female lead for my opera, Beatrice Chancy (composed by James Rolfe), the company was informed that no singer of requisite caliber could be found in Canada. In June 1996, then, at a workshop showcase of the music of Act I, an African-American woman played the lead, but was audibly shown up by a certain Measha Gosman now Bruggergosman who soon claimed the principal role for herself. Certainly a star was born when the opera debuted in 1998-1999. When my second opera, Quebecite: A Jazz Opera (composed by D.D.Jackson), debuted at the Guelph Jazz Festival in September 2003, one critic accused me of having tragically hijacked Quebecs symbols, while others said I was racist because none of the works star quartet is white. Yet, the purpose of the opera was, in part, to show that Quebec is not a whites-only province, nor is Quebecois identity only available to whites. Thus, two African-Canadian men marry separately, a Chinese woman and a South Asian Woman, in Quebec City. Moreover, the opera displays and critiques the racism and sexism of these characters: Neither the composer nor myself believed that we needed a white Quebecoise(e) to validate these characters experience. In my third opera, Trudeau: Long March / Shining Path (composed again by D.D.Jackson), I do stage Pierre Elliot Trudeau and his wife, Margaret, as white. But I put my Trudeau in dialogue with Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro. Nelson Mandela, as well as with a Chinese flautist and a Jewish-Canadian journalist, for I wanted to set the late, great Canadian prime minister in a global context, a opposed to the Caucasian-only, provincial-federal context that usually dominates his depictions. Surely, my Trudeau is a multicultural cosmopolitan; others may imagine or anomate a more provincial being.

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Richard Fung reminds us, In Canada the gatekeepers, whether they are knowledgeable and progressive or uninformed and reactionary, are almost white (Fung 48 [13 Conversations, 2002]). I will add that this monochromatic stewardship of the arts is unhealthy and impoverishing. We need to be truly avant-garde by, not just embracing diversity, but engaging it, so that we may be more accurate in depicting who we are: Officially bilingual, but polysemous; multiracial, multicultural, and multi-faith. Sharon Fernandez warns, elitism, cronyism and racism continue to be forces in the struggle for plural, cultural symmetry (Fernandez 73 [13 Conversations About Art and Cultural Race Polticis, 2002]). We must rid ourselves of these complexes to achieve more democratic and more inclusive arts organizations and programming. If we glance at the U.S., we see, as Richard Fung declares, a substantial number of Asian, Africans, and Latinos right at the top and all the way through in a way that has moved beyond tokenism (Fung 78 [13 Conversations, 2002]). The difference is that America is a Republic, where all groups and individuals contend for success or happiness as theoretical equals. But Canada is a Monarchy an ethnic hierarchy which, by definition, cannot permit true egalitarianism, but rather a more explicit (if mutely upheld) race-class stratification, with Aboriginals and Africans perpetually at the bottom of the society. Yet, the story and history of Canada cannot begin to be popular, to be about who we really are until we begin to stage the works where Laura Secord is played by an Asian, or we stage stories of ethnic and racial heritage, that is, of struggle and triumph, or defeat and despair. Let us reimagine the Riel Rebellion as Japanese Canadians facing internment camps; or, we replace the Fathers of Confederation with First Nations representatives, reminding everyone that Confederation was achieved on Aboriginal territory. There is only one path forward: To reinterpret the classical repertoire from a multicultural perspective; to tell marginalized histories and stories; to reach out to all Canadians by caring enough to relate the struggles of us all to achieve, finally, at last, The Just Society! Can I get an amen?

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Culture of Collaboration
Shahin Sayadi Introduction So theres no new money I am sure you have heard. Theres no new money for most of us, but there are so many new artists. We have a choice you have a choice: (1) You can close ranks, hold on to what you have, focus on protecting your assets and resources, cut the fat, do more audience friendly work, lobby harder for more funding. Or (2) You can learn to share, multiply your resources, open up to new artists, new ways of working, new voices, new audiences, a bright, colourful future. Collaboration is the future, it is the only effective way to address shrinking funding and expanding artistic opportunities. Collaboration makes sense we all have different resources, different skills, different perspectives and when we combine these with a spirit of equality, openness and respect, we can multiply the talents and abilities of our respective organizations. To be blunt: you have the space, the equipment, the human and financial resources, the marketing reach and corporate support and artists like me bring our work, our way of working, the artists that we work with and the audiences that are drawn to our work we bring change, growth, innovation. Within the context of rectifying the eurocentricity of professional Canadian performing arts, collaboration is the only way to ensure that our diverse society is reflected on our stages. Did you know that not one culturally diverse theatre company owns its own venue? Did you know that Onelight Theatre is the only culturally diverse professional arts organization east of Montreal? Did you know that at yesterdays CAPACOA Presenters Session there was not one person of colour? It is not enough to talk the talk, we must now walk the walk of cultural diversity. This issue is bigger than giving artists a chance to get on mainstream stages; this is about the effect of failing to represent huge portions of Canadian society and experiences in the performing arts. Make no mistake, while some culturally diverse individuals will embrace the status quo and integrate into the mainstream artistic ecology, many will not. In denying culturally diverse individuals the basic rights of freedom of expression which encompasses the right to speak and to listen we are perpetuating segregation and silencing. The face of Canada has changed and is continuing to diversify, our stages have not. People need to see themselves, their stories, their voices on stage. Not only does this legitimate their experiences as valued, important, and Canadian, it also serves as a starting point for dialogue, exchange and understanding. Collaboration is a vital way by which we can address the imbalance in our professional arts.

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My Work and Experiences Its not just a difference in colour, or language, or music, my approach to theatre is, at its very core, philosophically different from the Western style that is central to mainstream Canadian performing arts. The Western form of story-telling, and thus the Western form of creating work, is about the result, the conclusion. Conversely, the Eastern form and creation model is about the journey. My approach to theatre is grounded in the Eastern philosophy that shaped my worldview. Process is central to my work and the resources that I need to develop theatre: space, time, access to technical equipment, and, of course, a team of talented artists, designers and technicians, is more than a luxury, it is the core of my artistic vision. I cannot make theatre if I cannot respect the process of bringing the performance from its inception to the stage. I am the Artistic Director of OneLight Theatre, which was founded in 2002. We are based in Halifax and, occasionally, tour shows nationally and internationally. Our mandate is to develop and produce theatre by employing my personal philosophy of theatre development. We are not mandated to produce Iranian theatre, or multi-cultural theatre, or theatre that explores the experiences of the Canadian identity. Just theatre, my way. Sometimes we do Shakespeare, sometimes Annouil, sometimes Beyzaie. What makes my work culturally diverse is not the skin colour of the artists on stage, or the nationality of the playwrite, what makes my work culturally diverse is that it is founded on a nonWestern philosophical approach to art and creation. Still, my work is Canadian, and Nova Scotian, and Haligonian. Take for example OneLight Theatres production, The Veil, an original adaptation of Masoud Behnouds novel, Khanoom. This play tells the story of a young woman, born into the palace harem of early 20th century Iran, who travels to the West, spends several decades in Europe before returning to her homeland. The theme of this play was perspective. Among other things, we explored the often hidden voice of Eastern women in the early 20 th century. Imagine the Russian revolution, Weimar Germany, World War I and II through the eyes of a Persian woman. This play was very well received by a very diverse audiences. I feel that one of the reasons for its appeal was that it turned the traditional approach of inter-cultural relationships on its head in The Veil, Eastern culture was the norm and Western culture was the exotic other. As the Queen Mother said in the play: Persians are not Parisians we will never be like them. Eastern experience was the norm and Western life was the outsider other. Audiences are not afforded this perpsective very often in our professional performing arts. In 2005 and 2006 I was also the Artistic Producer of Nova Scotias annual multicultural festival. The circus of the other. This event is widely presented as an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of Nova Scotia. To bring together the cultures and heritages that make up the fabric of our community. In reality, for 3 days white people get to come and see exotic performances and taste new foods and for 3 days the multi-cultural population gets to see their artists, music, and dance in public, on stage, privileged. It is exceptional because it is the exception. What happens to these artists for the rest of the year? From this experience (and others) came Prismatic, a national multi-arts festival that showcases and celebrates the work of Canadas leading Aboriginal and culturally diverse artists. The most

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recent Prismatic took place in Halifax last month. We had over 20 performances and exhibitions, featuring the work of nearly 100 artists from across Canada in dance, theatre, music, spoken word, visual arts, film and photography. Prismatic drew a total audience of over 5000 people. In addition to this there was a three day conference: Canadian Art: Charting the Self Determination of Aboriginal and Culturally Diverse Artists in Canada through Exploring, Understanding and Re-Imagining. Almost 100 people came, from 7 provinces and 1 territory. It was the first time in almost 20 years that Aboriginal and culturally diverse artists have come together to discuss our shared experiences and to develop strategies to work together both professionally and in terms of advocacy. Prismatic is Onelight Theatres way of ensuring that the work of culturally diverse artists is not relegated to multi-cultural festivals, black heritage months, and anti-racism events. Prismatic is shining a light on the very talented, cutting edge work of Canadas next generation of cultural leaders. And as much as these artists embody artistic excellence, as much as they represent the future of Canadian arts and culture, they struggle. Even the most established organizations within our community struggle on a daily basis to have our voices heard and to have meaningful dialogue and engagement with our colleagues in mainstream performing arts. Sometimes we feel like you just dont get it. This is not about colour-blind casting or outreach. This is about redressing the power imbalance, as represented by the ability of mainstream organizations to control access to resources and to define what is Canadian art. It is unacceptable that after seeing The Veil, the artistic producer of a national theatre festival wrote me a note that said Your people must be so proud. It is unacceptable that in 2010 I was the only person of colour at the recent national meeting of the Performing Arts Alliance comprising nearly 100 people from across Canada. It is time for real change; and real change means that those with power are going to have to share it with the rest of us. Successful Collaboration The most obvious way to share power is to facilitate meaningful collaboration between mainstream and culturally diverse organizations. Successful collaboration has, as its starting point, a shared desire to maximize the resources that each company brings to the table. Collaboration is not charity, it is not an after thought, it is not outreach, it is not mentoring. Collaboration is the joining of equals. If you do not see me as your artistic and professional colleague, collaboration will not work. Good collaboration is the realization of equitable resource sharing; it gives effect to the social contract that arts organizations make with each other and our communities. We are all publicly funded groups and, as such, we are the trustees of the financial, physical and human resources of our organizations. Collaboration is about providing access to these resources, without limitations or hidden agendas. Ideally, collaboration is about a mutual exchange with the opportunity for growth and development on both sides. Programs and initiatives that isolate and exoticize culturally diverse artists are a disservice to artists. Without equitable access to our mainstage venues and the resources that they contain, these artists are marked as second-class performers, good enough for culturally-specific events and second stages, but not for real venues. Artists who produce culturally diverse content

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often find it difficult to be recognized as professional artists in their own right and this is perpetuated by relegating their work to second-class spaces. Collaboration that fails to bring culturally diverse artists together with mainstream organizations on an equitable basis, does a disservice to the venue. As the artistic director of Onelight Theatre, I develop productions with a team of talented performers, musicians, designers, technicians, and administrators we explore new technologies, bring new voices to the stage, we experiment with form and content and with language and movement, we take risks, we make mistakes, we make magic. Your organization will benefit as much as mine from a collaborative experience. Conclusion I challenge you to re-evaluate your concept of and approach to collaboration. Think of it in terms of giving effect to a social contract to share resources equitably amongst artists in your community, think of it in terms of redistributing power between organizations, think of it in terms of mutual benefit, growth and development, and, importantly, think about it in terms of recognizing that all Canadians need to be seen and heard in our cultural community. It is 2010. This is not a new discussion. It is time to effect real change. If Canadas mainstream arts organizations are not seen to be making change possible, significant portions of our population artists, audiences and sponsors will turn away from the mainstream and we will work to build our own cultural empires. I dont think that this is the best solution for Canada, but it will be the only option that is available if we do not gain equitable access to the resources that are held by Canadas major mainstream arts organizations.

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CPPAMO Town Hall No. 2 Workshop Group

with Sandra Laronde Facilitator: Sandra Laronde Note taker: Warren Garrett Sandras Opening Thoughts - basic approach is building relationships and building good sense of community and trust - Sandra has toured extensively throughout Canada and internationally - Her companys approach has been to think locally while building and expanding nationally - She believes that we need to align our future with a future that has a very different face - Indigenous peoples have been inclusive from the start - Aboriginal places feel exclusive - Go to venues where all peoples are - Very little indigenous work on Canadas stages - When she think about audiences her first priority is artistic intention first close eyes and imagines who audience is - Linking with a community who are more rural where some kind of cultural exchange is possible - Break down doors Red Sky - Sensorial, lived experience of aboriginal work - White presenters paint aboriginal work with one brush - Really care about audiences uplifted, moved - Media how to get them to see you theres something about media that tries to show aboriginal is small what indigenuity means - Write about true sign of aboriginal - Cultural protocols lots of errors, mistakes being made - People know about Maori protocols - Smaller country, ?????? period, Maori are quite fierce and vocal - Diversity has always been here - Cultural Protocols respect is a major one who addresses you elders, children humour goes a long way same in Africa Pat John very careful in what you say in past leadership has been aggressive, assertive this is not the future will have more about what indigenous leadership has been has to be connected to the environment, the Land opening night how white the leadership is try to get media, not recognized as legitimate, authentic cant be what we are not

Sandra - there are real ways to build relationships, to work / open doors - work with presenters to open doors, co-speaking it may not be the presenters voice that is most important there are no tricks - can read the racism Frederic

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can only establish trust if there is truth need to address / uncover suspicion need to remove obstacles of suspicion

Sandra - need to bring diversity onto boards - culturally-driven will help others with matters of diversity David - spokesperson on board be aware of tokenism Sandra - glad PCH has aboriginal tick box on report forms but eventually would like to see it removed Cynthia - Kahawi Santee Smith did classical ballet - Presenters cannot grasp that she is from two worlds - Australia successful fund as an identity we dont have classically slowly incrementally making some dont . Sandra - dont think all presenters want to see only aboriginal work can presenters become more open? Yes. - Building audiences has not been Red Sky problem but then a presenter who wants to see traditional to inf David - every distinct culture has its own traditions Ann its about creating audiences, gaining perspectivesAPC presenters put aboriginal work on stage without context range of artists

Sandra - one of the most important this conversation s/b an ongoing dialogue with every forum not just one-off - make it inherent still not at national table in deeper, lasting impact. Jonathan Barnard at Orchid Ensemble - contemporary / traditional - what presenters present is traditional - in Canada we are presenting what is timely Sandra - Brazil is one of most important - fusion

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